Channel 4 to celebrate 20 years of rave with all-night party and documentary

Channel 4 will toast the birth of rave by broadcasting a six hour live party, with no interruptions, commentary or ad breaks.

House Party, as the show is to be called, will begin at midnight on August 24 and run until 6am in the morning. The date marks 20 years since 1992’s legendary free party at Malven’s Castlemorton, which is still talked about as one of the all-time biggest raves, with 40,000 revelers allegedly attending. Now, you’d think that a show celebrating 20 years of rave would feature some actual rave DJs from the era, but so far no dice: Radio 1’s Annie Mac and hip-hop turntable legend Grandmaster Flash are the only two DJs confirmed at this point.

Even better: the show will be preceded by a documentary, which promises appearances by Paul Oakenfold (cool), Pete Tong (cool), Home Secretary Michael Howard (err…) and Will.i.am (WTF?). Channel 4 are also promising to provide the “ultimate DJ booth” for the event, with viewers able to request songs while they watch. Let’s hope DJ Outlaw‘s out of jail in time for a booking, eh?

Still, one thing the station have got right, in an age of everything being recorded, is promising that House Party will never be repeated, nor made available on 4OD. In the words of the station’s arts commissioner Tabitha Jackson, “Like all the best club nights and parties if you want to be there you have to turn up”.